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September 18, 2008 Time: 7:31am t1-v1.0 Cataclysmic Cosmic Events and How to Observe Them For other titles published in this series, go to www.springer.com/series/5338 September 18, 2008 Time: 7:31am t1-v1.0 Martin Mobberley Cataclysmic Cosmic Events and How to Observe Them 13 September 18, 2008 Time: 7:31am t1-v1.0 Martin Mobberley Suffolk, UK e-mail: [email protected] ISBN: 978-0-387-79945-2 e-ISBN: 978-0-387-79946-9 DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-79946-9 Library of Congress Control Number: 2008920267 # Springer ScienceþBusiness Media, LLC 2009 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer ScienceþBusiness Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper springer.com Acknowledgements As was the case with my five previous Springer books, I am indebted to my fellow amateurs who have generously donated pictures of themselves, and images of their results, to this project. I am especially indebted to Seiichiro Kiyota for his con- siderable help in contacting Japanese nova patrollers who donated images of themselves for Chapter 2. In addition, his countrymen Osamu Ohshima and Tomohisha Ohno kindly assisted in obtaining photographs of the legendary dis- coverer Minoru Honda. In alphabetical order I would like to sincerely thank all of the following astronomers without whom this book would not have been possible: Ron Arbour, Mark Armstrong, Tom Boles, Denis Buczynski, John Fletcher, Acknowledgements Katsumi Haseda, Guy Hurst, Ken Kennedy, Seiichiro Kiyota, Robin Leadbeater, Gianluca Masi, Yuji Nakamura, Hideo Nishimura, Tomohisha Ohno, Osamu Ohshima, Arto Oksanen, Gary and Jean Poyner, Yukio Sakurai, John Saxton, Jeremy Shears, Mike Simonsen, Kesao Takamizawa, Akira Takao, Dave Tyler, Mauri Valtonen, and Minoru Wakuda. Thanks also to the following organizations: the British Astronomical Associa- tion (BAA), the European Space Agency (ESA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). I would also like to thank all at Springer who have made this book possible, in particular, Jenny Wolkowicki, who has conscientiously guided this book and my previous three Springer books through the complex production process with an essential injection of wry humor, despite being remorselessly ‘‘chased by alliga- tors’’! Without Jenny none of these books would exist. Finally, I am indebted to my father Denys Mobberley for his support in all my astronomical activities during my past forty years in this hobby. v September 18, 2008 Time: 7:31am t1-v1.0 Contents Acknowledgements . ............................... v About the Author. ...................................... xi Preface . .......................................... xiii 1. Cataclysmic Variables ................................. 1 Contents A Binary System . ............................... 1 Stars Almost Touching. ............................... 3 Accretion Disks, Hot Spots, and Eclipses . ................. 4 Variable Star Nomenclature . ........................ 5 Categories of Dwarf Novae . ........................ 8 Superoutbursts and Superhumps . ........................ 10 Nova-likes, Z Cams, and Others . ........................ 10 A Period–Luminosity Link . ........................ 12 Magnetic CVs . ...................................... 12 Symbiotic Stars ...................................... 14 How to Observe CVs . ............................... 14 Worthwhile Projects . ............................... 24 Some Good Dwarf Nova Targets for CCDs . ................. 33 Leading CV Observers . ............................... 40 2. Novae and Recurrent Novae............................. 47 Novae . .......................................... 47 Associated Nebulosity . ............................... 49 Memorable Novae . ............................... 50 Recurrent Novae . ............................... 59 How to Observe Novae and Recurrent Novae ................. 60 Where to Search . ............................... 67 Successful Photographic Nova Hunters and their Equipment ...... 71 Avoiding False Alarms . ............................... 79 Patrolling for Novae Outside the Milky Way. ................. 80 Andromeda and the Pinwheel . ........................ 81 TheLMCandSMC................................... 82 Obtaining Spectra of Novae . ........................ 83 Checking for Recurrent Nova Outbursts . ................. 87 Recurrent Novae Worth Monitoring . ................. 89 3. Solar Flares, Giant Prominences, and Flare Stars .............. 99 Solar Flares . ...................................... 99 Prominences. ...................................... 101 vii September 18, 2008 Time: 7:31am t1-v1.0 The 11-Year Cycle . .............................. 102 Major Flares . ..................................... 103 How to Observe Solar Flares and Prominences ................ 105 Flare Stars ......................................... 112 4. Bright Supernovae and Hypernovae ....................... 121 Type Ia Supernovae . .............................. 121 Massive Progenitor/Core-Collapse Supernovae ................ 122 Supernova Subtypes . .............................. 124 The ‘Champagne’ Supernova . ....................... 128 The Brightest Supernovae .............................. 128 Extraordinary Supernovae .............................. 129 Ultrabright Supernovae and Hypernovae . ................ 133 How to Discover and Observe Supernovae . ................ 135 Contents The Competitors ..................................... 141 Hardware for Patrollers . .............................. 146 Software for Patrollers . .............................. 146 Checking Software. .............................. 147 Astrometric Software . .............................. 148 5. Active Galaxies ...................................... 151 Super massive Black Holes .............................. 153 Confusing Classifications . .............................. 156 Quasars . ......................................... 157 Blazars, OVVs, and BL Lac Objects . ....................... 161 Seyfert Galaxies. ..................................... 168 Active Galaxies for Observing . ....................... 174 6. Gamma Ray Bursters ................................. 177 What Causes GRBs? . .............................. 178 Short-Duration GRBs. .............................. 179 Some Historic GRBs . .............................. 182 A New GRB Detection Era .............................. 185 GRBs from the SWIFT Era .............................. 185 How to Observe GRBs . .............................. 187 Notable Amateur Successes to Date . ....................... 189 Final Thoughts . ..................................... 195 7. How to Do Visual and CCD Photometry .................... 197 Visual Photometry . .............................. 197 The Retina ......................................... 198 Dark Adaption . ..................................... 198 Estimating Magnitudes Visually . ....................... 202 Magnitude Reporting . .............................. 203 Fractional Estimates . .............................. 203 Pogson Step Estimates . .............................. 204 Julian Date ......................................... 204 Ergonomics . ..................................... 205 CCD Photometry ..................................... 206 Photometry in Detail . .............................. 208 viii September 18, 2008 Time: 7:31am t1-v1.0 A Different Type of Aperture and FWHM . ................. 210 Dark Frames . ...................................... 211 Flat Fields . ...................................... 213 UBVRI . .......................................... 215 Carrying Out Photometry ............................... 217 Time-Resolved Photometry . ........................ 222 AIP’s Multiple Image Photometry . ........................ 222 Period Determination Techniques . ........................ 225 Resources . .......................................... 229 Index . .......................................... 235 Contents ix About the Author Martin Mobberley is a well-known British amateur astronomer who images a wide variety of objects, including comets, planets, novae, supernovae, and asteroids (including 7239 Mobberley). He has written five previous amateur and practical astronomy books for Springer as well as three children’s books about astronomy and space travel. Martin has served as the British Astronomical Association’s president and received the BAA’s Goodacre award in 2000. He is a regular contributor to the British magazine Astronomy Now and the BBC Sky at Night publication and has appeared as a guest on Sir Patrick Moore’s ‘‘Sky at Night’’ TV program on numerous occasions since the late 1990s. About the Author xi Preface In the Victorian era – or for non-British readers, the mid-to-late nineteenth century – amateur astronomy tended to center on Solar